Ontologism

(1,144 words)

1. Meaning. Ontologism is the doctrine propounded under this name by V. Gioberti (1801–52) according to which human reason first grasps intuitively infinite being, though not in the same way as in the beatific vision. Being is grasped not as an indeterminate abstraction but as supremely real, containing within it all determinations, even though they cannot be distinguished by earthly knowledge. This being (essere — also called ente by Gioberti, “that which is”) is perpetually present to the human mind, and it is only in the light of this being that existing thi…